Puan Maharani

Puan Maharani Nakshatra Kusyala Devi, born 6 September 1973) is an Indonesian politician who is the current speaker of the People's Representative Council (DPR), Indonesia's lower house. She is the first female and the third-youngest person to take the office permanently, aged only 46 when she took the oath. She previously served as the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs between 2014 and 2019, also becoming the first female and the youngest among all past and present coordinating ministers, being only 41 when she took office.

Puan Maharani
Puan Maharani as Speaker of the People's Representative Council (2019)
19th Speaker of the People's Representative Council
Assumed office
1 October 2019
Preceded byBambang Soesatyo
16th Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs
In office
27 October 2014 – 1 October 2019
PresidentJoko Widodo
Vice PresidentJusuf Kalla
Preceded byAgung Laksono
Succeeded byDarmin Nasution (acting)
Member of People's Representative Council from Central Java 5th district
Assumed office
1 October 2019
In office
2 October 2009 – 26 October 2014
PresidentSusilo Bambang Yudhoyono
Joko Widodo
Succeeded byAlfia Reziani
Personal details
Born
Puan Maharani Nakshatra Kusyala Devi

(1973-09-06) 6 September 1973
Bandung, Indonesia
NationalityIndonesian
Political partyPDI-P
ParentsTaufiq Kiemas
Megawati Sukarnoputri
Alma materUniversity of Indonesia

A member of the PDI-P, she was first elected to the DPR in 2009. She served as head of her party's faction from 2012 until her selection as minister in 2014. She was one of eight women selected as ministers and the only female coordinating minister. She was again elected to the parliament in the 2019 election.

She is the youngest child and the only daughter of former president and current PDI-P leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, and a granddaughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno. Her father, Taufiq Kiemas, served as the speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly from 2009 until his death in 2013.

Family and personal life

Early life

In 1970, Megawati's first husband Surindro Supjarso - with whom she had two sons - died when his Short SC.7 Skyvan crashed near Biak.[1] After a brief marriage to an Egyptian diplomat, Megawati married Taufiq Kiemas and Maharani was born in 1973.[2] After founding president Sukarno was overthrown by Suharto following the 30 September Movement of 1965, Kiemas spent several years in jail as a political prisoner, limiting the family's economic and social interactions.[3]

Education

Her first 12 years of schooling was completed in Cikini, and she entered the University of Indonesia in 1991 to study mass communication. She graduated in 1997.[4]

Family

Puan is married to businessman Hapsoro 'Happy' Sukmonohadi and they have two children.[5] According to media reports, Puan and Happy were married one month before the reformation period that was ushered in by the resignation of Suharto in May 1998.[6] At that time, Puan’s mother Megawati was the country’s leading opposition figure in a regime that did not tolerate critical opposition.[7] Puan said she had difficulty finding a venue for the wedding because many building managers canceled her booking. The wedding was eventually held at Megawati’s house in Kebagusan in South Jakarta. Puan said no state officials were present.[8]

Career

After the fall of Suharto in 1998, Puan became involved in politics as her mother was one of the main players in the national political scene. During the three-year Megawati presidency, she would often accompany her mother on domestic and foreign official visits, in addition to conducting social events by herself.[9]

In 2008, Megawati introduced Puan, then head of PDI-P's public and women's empowerment wing, as her successor during campaigning for the East Java 2008 gubernatorial elections in Ngawi.[10] Following that, Maharani ran in the 2009 elections in Central Java's election district 5 (covering Surakarta, Sukoharjo, Klaten and Boyolali) and won 242,504 votes - the second highest of all parliamentary candidates in the nation.[11] During her first term, she acted as head of the PDI-P faction since 2012, replacing Tjahjo Kumolo (who later became Minister of Home Affairs).[12] She was assigned to the DPR's 6th commission, covering investment and SMEs.[11] During this period, she argued against a fuel price hike policy in 2013.[13]

Later, she was briefly put up as a possible PDI-P presidential candidate for the 2014 elections and as a possible vice presidential candidate to Joko Widodo (popularly known as Jokowi). In the legislative elections, she won 326,927 votes, once more scoring the second-most votes nationwide.[11][14] Following Jokowi's election victory over Prabowo Subianto, she was appointed a cabinet minister amid criticism over her inexperience and her mother's political influence.[11] Her replacement in parliament, Alfia Reziani, was only sworn in by 2016.[15] She claimed success during her tenure, pointing at the rising HDI in addition to lower poverty and Gini ratio statistics.[16] She was the only coordinating minister to survive two cabinet reshuffles in Jokowi's first term, prompting the media to describe her as "untouchable".[17][18]

Following Indonesia's April 2019 general election, in which provisional results indicated PDIP had received the most votes, Puan was touted to become Speaker of the House for the 2019-2024 period,[19] becoming the first female Speaker of the body.[20] She has also indicated she may run for the presidency in 2024.[21] Individually, she obtained 404,034 votes for her ticket for the council, the most of any legislative candidates in the country.[22] She was appointed as Speaker on 1 October 2019, becoming the first woman to hold the position.[23]

Corruption allegation

On 22 March 2018, former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto, while on trial for corruption, testified Puan received a bribe of $500,000 from businessman Made Oka Masagung in connection with an electronic identity card program when she was a legislator, serving as chairwoman of the PDIP faction in the House of Representatives.[24] Puan admitted to knowing Made Oka but denied discussing the e-ID case with him.[25] Made Oka, who was jailed for 10 years for his role in the e-ID bribery scandal, denied giving any money to legislators, saying he could not remember a meeting with them.[26][27] Indonesia Corruption Watch called on the Corruption Eradication Commission to check the veracity of the allegation made against Puan.[28] KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo said Setya's testimony was "only talk" and Puan would not be questioned if no evidence had been found.[29]

Mental Revolution website

On 24 August 2016, in her capacity as Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Puan launched a website, revolusimental.go.id, to promote President Joko Widodo's call for a "mental revolution" in Indonesia.[30] The ministry had received budget funds of Rp149 billion in 2015, resulting in criticism when the revolusimental website went "down" two days after its launch.[31][32] Officials claimed the site had been hacked and had cost "only" Rp200 million.[33] Reports noted that some of the site's script code had been taken from barackobama.com, a site operated by supporters of Barack Obama. The original site was also built on a theme from open-source website platform WordPress and hosted on a shared server.[34] The website was later redeveloped, but was criticized for being "heavy on budget, light on content".[35] Puan defended the website, saying: “l really want everyone to participate in this programme by joining the activities as well as giving us their opinions or criticisms.”[36]

See also

References
  1. "Mega Ditinggal Suami" (in Indonesian). Tempo. 6 March 1971. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  2. Lamb, David (23 October 1999). "Megawati Rises Above Stormy Clouds of Suharto Era". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  3. "Mengintip Kisah Cinta Taufiq Kiemas dan Megawati Soekarnoputri". Detik (in Indonesian). 7 January 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  4. "Sosok Puan Maharani, Salah Satu Menteri Koordinator di Kabinet Jokowi". KOMPAS.com (in Indonesian). 26 October 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  5. "Profil Puan Maharani" (in Indonesian). VIVA.co.id. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  6. Putra, Putu Merta Surya (21 May 2018). "Kenangan Menko Puan Jadi Juru Masak Saat Reformasi 1998". Liputan6.com. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  7. Donald J. Porter (21 August 2013). Managing Politics and Islam in Indonesia. Routledge. pp. 169–. ISBN 978-1-136-55285-4.
  8. Putra, Putu Merta Surya (21 May 2018). "Kenangan Menko Puan Jadi Juru Masak Saat Reformasi 1998". Liputan6.com. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  9. "Puan Maharani" (in Indonesian). Merdeka. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  10. "Megawati Perkenalkan Penerusnya Puan Maharani". ANTARA (in Indonesian). 16 July 2008. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  11. "Puan Maharani, Calon Menko Pembangunan Manusia". Tempo (in Indonesian). 22 October 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  12. "Puan Gantikan Tjahjo sebagai Ketua Fraksi PDIP". Tempo (in Indonesian). 23 January 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  13. "Tolak Kenaikan BBM, Puan: Program Balsem Tak Jelas". detik.com (in Indonesian). 17 June 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  14. "Puan still eyes VP position". The Jakarta Post. 17 May 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  15. Ihsanuddin (17 March 2016). "Alfia Reziani Resmi Dilantik Jadi Anggota DPR Gantikan Puan Maharani". KOMPAS.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  16. "Govt announces progress in human development, cultural affairs". The Jakarta Post. 27 October 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  17. "New Economics, Trade Chiefs as Jokowi Reshuffles Cabinet". American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia. Jakarta Globe. 12 August 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  18. Ihsanuddin (28 July 2016). "Menteri-menteri "Untouchable" yang Aman dari "Reshuffle"". Kompas.com. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  19. Bayhaqi, Ahda (14 May 2019). "Posisi Ketua DPR, PDIP Sebut Puan Paling Berpeluang tapi Tunggu Keputusan Megawati". Merdeka.com. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  20. Persada, Syailendra (1 October 2019). "Puan Maharani: Akhirnya Pecah Telor, Perempuan Pertama Ketua DPR". Tempo (in Indonesian). Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  21. "Puan Maharani Beri Sinyal Maju Pilpres 2024, Siapa yang Pantas Mendampingi & Bagaimana Peluangnya?". tribun-timur.com. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  22. "Perbandingan Kiprah Puan Maharani dan 4 Wakil Ketua DPR di Dapil". Kabar24 (in Indonesian). 2 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  23. Ghaliya, Ghina (1 October 2019). "House gets first female speaker". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  24. Kharishar, Khafi (22 March 2018). "Setya testifies that Puan, Pramono received e-ID graft money". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  25. "Puan denies Setya's claim she received e-ID money". The Jakarta Post. 24 March 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  26. Florentin, Vindry (23 March 2018). "Puan Maharani Dismisses Setya Novanto's Allegation". Tempo.co. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  27. Rahma, Andita (5 December 2018). "Korupsi E-KTP, Made Oka dan Irvanto Divonis 10 Tahun Penjara". Tempo.co. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  28. Agus, Feri (23 March 2018). "ICW: KPK Perlu Periksa Puan dan Pramono di Kasus e-KTP". CNN Indonesia. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  29. "KPK Belum Bisa Sentuh Puan Maharani, Ini Sebabnya". PT. JPG Multimedia. 26 March 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  30. "Puan Maharani launches Mental Revolution site". Republika.co.id. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  31. "Puan's Ministry Faces Difficulty in Realizing 'Mental Revolution'". Tempo.co. 16 March 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  32. Batubara, Herianto (26 August 2015). "Situs Revolusi Mental Kemenko PMK Down, Berapa sih Biaya Pembuatannya?". detikcom. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  33. Kusuma, Edward Febriyatri (28 August 2015). "Situs Revolusi Mental Tumbang Sehari Setelah Diluncurkan, Ini Kata Menko Puan". detikcom. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  34. "Puan Panned Over $10m Website, Likely Copied and Signifying Nothing". Jakarta Globe. 27 August 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  35. Hidayat, Reja (25 July 2018). "Situs Revolusi Mental Menteri Puan: Gede Anggaran, Minim Konten". Tirto.id. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  36. Maya, Amadea (30 May 2016). "Generation Why: An Interview with Puan Maharani". Indonesia Tatler. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
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